In-form mare Shoes extended her winning sequence to three in a row with a brilliant front-running performance at Tauranga on Saturday.
The daughter of Derryn had previously won a Rating 65 at Ruakaka on September 7, then stepped up into Rating 75 company at Te Rapa on October 12 and delivered a repeat result.
Shoes stayed in the same grade on Saturday, albeit with a rise to 58kg in the handicap and a difficult draw of 10 in an 11-horse field. Trainer Pam Gerard opted to use the 3kg claim of apprentice jockey Joe Nishizuka, and Shoes ran her rivals off their feet.
The four-year-old jumped sharply from her wide gate and charged forward, taking the lead inside the first 50m of the race. That was where she stayed, opening up a lead of three or four lengths coming down the side of the track.
The challengers closed that gap right up and were breathing down her neck at the top of the home straight, but Shoes stubbornly refused to let them pass. She lifted again, holding on gamely through the final 300m to beat Dazzled and Twain by a long neck. She clocked 1:10.29 for 1200m on a Soft5 track.
Saturday's win continued a hot run of form for Gerard, who has trained 13 winners this season including the Gr.2 Hawke's Bay Guineas (1400m) and this week's Gr.2 Sarten Memorial (1400m) with Savaglee.
"That was a bit nerve-racking," the Matamata trainer said. "Joe's not quite as experienced as some of the others that have ridden her, but she really needed that weight relief today.
"She's going through the grades well. It was a bonus that we could stay in this grade today and use the claim.
"I thought there might be a bit more pace in that race today and a bit more pressure on her. If they leave her alone, she'll just keep running. Joe sat as still as a mouse and never changed his grip. She found more when she heard them coming in the straight."
Shoes has now had 12 starts for four wins, three seconds and $133,735 in stakes for a Ballymore Stables ownership syndicate.
Shoes was bred by Grangewilliam Stud, who offered her in the Book 2 session of Karaka 2022. Paul Moroney Bloodstock and Ballymore Stables bought her for $22,500.
